
Jesus formerly had called "My Father's house," He had said, "Be-
hold, your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 23: 38. "Desolate'
means unoccupied, empty after being occupied. God no longer mani-
fested His presence there.
3.
At the siege of Jerusalem, a pagan power, the Roman, set up
its own gods in the holy place,—fitting sequel to the rejection of the
Messiah by those who once were God's "peculiar people"! This is
what Jesus refers to as "the abomination of desolation," a type of
the greater abominations to follow in the Dark Ages.
4.
The "days" of "great tribulation" Jesus here speaks of can be
no other than the long period of 126o years of papal persecution
through which the church was to pass, when millions of the saints
of God were cruelly put to death as heretics. Dan. 7: 25; Rev.
12:
6,
13, 14. These days of papal supremacy began in 538
A. D.,
and ended
in 1798. But Jesus said the time of persecution should be "short-
ened." As a result of the Reformation under Luther and his asso-
ciates, Jesus' words met their literal fulfillment in that the days of
persecution ended about the middle of the eighteenth centur
fat-y-years-trefure-the- close . of-t14. period-in-17A-
5.
"As one of the signs of Jerusalem's destruction, Christ had
said, 'Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.' False
prophets did rise, deceiving the people, and leading great numbers
into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming miraculous
power, drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But
this prophecy was spoken also for the last days. This sign is given
as a sign of the second advent. Even now false christs and false
prophets are showing signs and wonders to seduce His disciples. Do
we not hear the cry, 'Behold, He is in the desert'? Have not thou-
sands gone forth into the desert, hoping to find Christ? And from
thousands of gatherings where men profess to hold communion with
departed spirits, is not the call now heard, 'Behold, He is in the
secret chambers'? This is the very claim that Spiritualism puts forth.
But what says Christ?—`Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh
out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.'
"—"The Desire of Ages," p. 631.
6.
The second coming of Jesus can not be counterfeited. It will
be impossible for Satan to imitate the manner of His coming as
outlined in these words of Scripture. Jesus has forewarned His
people, so that none need be deceived by false teaching concerning
the coming of Christ.
7.
"In these words our Saviour announces a vital principle of
eternal justice. The destruction to come first upon Jerusalem and
the men of that generation, and later upon the last generation, would
not come because of an arbitrary decree of an offended God, but as
the inevitable result of the deliberate choice of the people. Taking
note of the calamities foretold by our Lord, but failing to discern
the principle involved, the disciples asked, 'Where, Lord?' And Jesus
answered, 'Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gath-
ered together.' Luke 17: 37. In other words, wherever the cup of
iniquity of an individual, a city, a nation, or a generation has been
filled up, there will fall the condemnation and judgments."—"Her-
aids of the King," pp. 72, 73.
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